Hayley Paige Gets Instagram Account Access With Some Restraints

JLM Couture Inc. has to give influencer and designer Hayley Paige Gutman access to the "@misshayleypaige” Instagram and Pinterest accounts while a federal court reconsiders questions about their ownership.

Gutman is entitled to the login information of the accounts, which boast a combined 1.1 million followers, because an appeals court vacated the portion of a preliminary injunction granting JLM “sole control,” Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said in an order issued March 1.

While the bridal company must share the accounts’ username and password by Tuesday, Swain upheld portions of an injunction prohibiting Gutman from deleting or altering any of the accounts’ content, posting commercial content that’s not connected to JLM, or disparaging JLM, among other restrictions.

Gutman entered into a contract with JLM in 2011 to design wedding dresses and made the disputed accounts around the same time to promote herself and her designs, according to court filings. JLM sued Gutman for trademark infringement, breach of contract, and control of the accounts in 2020 after employment contract negotiations broke down.

In January, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated parts of the district court’s 2022 order requiring Gutman to hand over control of the accounts to JLM.

The appeals court did away with the lower court’s creation of a novel six-factor test to determine ownership, which weighed aspects including content and company access, instead holding the disputed accounts should be treated like any other form of property, including a need to determine the original owner.

On remand from the Second Circuit, JLM argued further briefing was needed and the vacated portions of the preliminary injunctions should be imposed in their entirety in the interim. Gutman conversely requested the court to transfer sole access to the accounts back to her and confirm that she’s unrestricted in her commercial competition with JLM.

Swain acknowledged the case has been briefed “extensively” before the district and appellate courts, but said the Second Circuit remanded specific questions that haven’t been fully argued.

Swain ordered the parties to submit additional briefing regarding Gutman’s motivation for creating the accounts, whether account ownership was ever transferred, and whether JLM’s noncompete agreement is warranted and reasonable, among other questions.

While those questions are pending, the court enjoined Gutman from identifying herself as a designer of certain products because the JLM has made a sufficient showing that it will succeed on its claim that the restrictions are enforceable.

JLM is likely to establish Gutman was “a unique and extraordinary employee who, unlike anonymous designers or ordinary marketing personnel, could have an unfair competitive advantage over JLM should she appeal to customers and prospective customers to abandon JLM for another manufacturer,” Swain wrote.

Adelman Matz PC represents JLM. Haynes and Boone LLP represents Gutman.

The case is JLM Couture Inc. v. Gutman, S.D.N.Y., No. 20-cv-10575, additional briefing ordered 3/1/24.